Interface functionality for RAN-WLAN radio aggregation

Abstract

There are provided measures for enabling/realizing interface functionality for RAN-WLAN radio aggregation, i.e. radio level integration/aggregation between a cellular radio access network and a wireless area network. Such measures exemplarily comprise user-plane data forwarding from a cellular radio access network over a wireless local area network to a terminal, both the cellular radio access network and the wireless local area network providing radio level connectivity for the terminal, wherein in the user-plane data forwarding user-plane data packets according to a cellular data convergence protocol are transported, at least partly, using a reliable transport protocol over the wireless local area network to the terminal, providing feedback on performance of user-plane data packets transport using the reliable transport protocol, at least partly, from the wireless local area network to the cellular radio access network, and executing flow control on the basis of the performance feedback.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. A method comprising
 controlling user-plane data forwarding from a cellular radio access network over a wireless local area network to a terminal, both the cellular radio access network and the wireless local area network providing radio level connectivity for the terminal, wherein in the user-plane data forwarding user-plane data packets according to a cellular data convergence protocol are transported, at least partly, using a reliable transport protocol over the wireless local area network to the terminal, 
 obtaining feedback on performance of user-plane data packets transport using the reliable transport protocol, at least, from the wireless local area network, and 
 executing flow control for the user-plane data forwarding from the cellular radio access network over the wireless local area network to the terminal on the basis of the obtained performance feedback. 
 
     
     
       2. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the user-plane data packets are transmitted to a network element of the wireless local area network for transporting the same from the network element of the wireless local area network to the terminal using the reliable transport protocol, and 
 the performance feedback is received from said network element of the wireless local area network. 
 
     
     
       3. The method according to  claim 2 , wherein
 the performance feedback comprises performance data from the terminal and/or performance metrics indicating one or more parameters relating to flow control per terminal, per network element of the wireless local area network, per network element of the cellular radio access network, per radio access bearer or per radio access bearer group, such as available buffer size, achieved data rate per terminal, aggregated data rate, aggregated congestion window, aggregated number of gaps in a sequence of user-plane data packets, and packet loss rate, and 
 the flow control is executed on the basis of the received performance data and/or performance metrics. 
 
     
     
       4. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the user-plane data packets are transported via a network element of the wireless local area network to the terminal using the reliable transport protocol, and 
 the performance feedback comprises performance data from the terminal, which is received from said network element of the wireless local area network. 
 
     
     
       5. The method according to  claim 4 , wherein
 performance metrics indicating one or more parameters relating to flow control per terminal, per network element of the wireless local area network, per network element of the cellular radio access network, per radio access bearer or per radio access bearer group, such as available buffer size, achieved data rate per terminal, aggregated data rate, aggregated congestion window, aggregated number of gaps in a sequence of user-plane data packets, and packet loss rate, are computed on the basis of the received performance data, and 
 the flow control is executed on the basis of the received performance data and/or the computed performance metrics. 
 
     
     
       6. A method comprising
 receiving user-plane data forwarding from a cellular radio access network over a wireless local area network to a terminal, both the cellular radio access network and the wireless local area network providing radio level connectivity for the terminal, wherein in the user-plane data forwarding user-plane data packets according to a cellular data convergence protocol are transported, at least partly, using a reliable transport protocol over the wireless local area network to the terminal, 
 detecting performance of user-plane data packets transport using the reliable transport protocol, and 
 providing performance data of the detected performance to the wireless local area network for providing performance feedback to the cellular radio access network. 
 
     
     
       7. The method according to  claim 6 , wherein
 the user-plane data packets are transported from a network element of the wireless local area network to the terminal using the reliable transport protocol, and 
 the performance data is provided via a radio interface of the wireless local area network towards said network element of the wireless local area network. 
 
     
     
       8. The method according to  claim 6 , wherein
 the user-plane data packets are transported from a network element of the cellular radio access network via a network element of the wireless local area network to the terminal using the reliable transport protocol, and 
 the performance data is provided via a radio interface of the wireless local area network towards said network element of the cellular radio access network. 
 
     
     
       9. The method according to  claim 6 , wherein
 the performance data is suitable for computing performance metrics indicating one or more parameters relating to flow control per terminal, per network element of the wireless local area network, per network element of the cellular radio access network, per radio access bearer or per radio access bearer group, such as available buffer size, achieved data rate per terminal, aggregated data rate, aggregated congestion window, aggregated number of gaps in a sequence of user-plane data packets, and packet loss rate. 
 
     
     
       10. An apparatus comprising
 a processor, and 
 a memory configured to store computer program code, 
 wherein the processor is configured to cause the apparatus at least to: 
 control user-plane data forwarding from a cellular radio access network over a wireless local area network to a terminal, both the cellular radio access network and the wireless local area network providing radio level connectivity for the terminal, wherein in the user-plane data forwarding user-plane data packets according to a cellular data convergence protocol are transported, at least partly, using a reliable transport protocol over the wireless local area network to the terminal, 
 obtain feedback on performance of user-plane data packets transport using the reliable transport protocol, at least, from the wireless local area network, and 
 execute flow control for the user-plane data forwarding from the cellular radio access network over the wireless local area network to the terminal on the basis of the obtained performance feedback. 
 
     
     
       11. The apparatus according to  claim 10 , wherein the processor is configured to cause the apparatus
 to transmit the user-plane data packets to a network element of the wireless local area network for transporting the same from the network element of the wireless local area network to the terminal using the reliable transport protocol, and 
 to receive the performance feedback from said network element of the wireless local area network. 
 
     
     
       12. The apparatus according to  claim 11 , wherein
 the performance feedback comprises performance data from the terminal and/or performance metrics indicating one or more parameters relating to flow control per terminal, per network element of the wireless local area network, per network element of the cellular radio access network, per radio access bearer or per radio access bearer group, such as available buffer size, achieved data rate per terminal, aggregated data rate, aggregated congestion window, aggregated number of gaps in a sequence of user-plane data packets, and packet loss rate, and 
 the processor is configured to cause the apparatus to execute the flow control on the basis of the received performance data and/or performance metrics. 
 
     
     
       13. The apparatus according to  claim 10 , wherein
 the processor is configured to cause the apparatus to transport the user-plane data packets via a network element of the wireless local area network to the terminal using the reliable transport protocol, and 
 the performance feedback comprises performance data from the terminal, which is received from said network element of the wireless local area network. 
 
     
     
       14. The apparatus according to  claim 13 , wherein
 the processor is configured to cause the apparatus to compute, on the basis of the received performance data, performance metrics indicating one or more parameters relating to flow control per terminal, per network element of the wireless local area network, per network element of the cellular radio access network, per radio access bearer or per radio access bearer group, such as available buffer size, achieved data rate per terminal, aggregated data rate, aggregated congestion window, aggregated number of gaps in a sequence of user-plane data packets, and packet loss rate, and 
 the processor is configured to cause the apparatus to execute the flow control on the basis of the received performance data and/or the computed performance metrics. 
 
     
     
       15. An apparatus comprising
 a processor, and 
 a memory configured to store computer program code, 
 wherein the processor is configured to cause the apparatus at least to: 
 receive user-plane data forwarding from a cellular radio access network over a wireless local area network to a terminal, both the cellular radio access network and the wireless local area network providing radio level connectivity for the terminal, wherein in the user-plane data forwarding user-plane data packets according to a cellular data convergence protocol are transported, at least partly, using a reliable transport protocol over the wireless local area network to the terminal, 
 detect performance of user-plane data packets transport using the reliable transport protocol, and 
 provide performance data of the detected performance to the wireless local area network for providing performance feedback to the cellular radio access network. 
 
     
     
       16. The apparatus according to  claim 15 , wherein the processor is configured to cause the apparatus
 to receive the user-plane data packets being transported from a network element of the wireless local area network to the terminal using the reliable transport protocol, and 
 to provide the performance data via a radio interface of the wireless local area network towards said network element of the wireless local area network. 
 
     
     
       17. The apparatus according to  claim 15 , wherein the processor is configured to cause the apparatus
 to receive the user-plane data packets being transported from a network element of the cellular radio access network via a network element of the wireless local area network to the terminal using the reliable transport protocol, and 
 to provide the performance data via a radio interface of the wireless local area network towards said network element of the cellular radio access network. 
 
     
     
       18. The apparatus according to  claim 15 , wherein
 the performance data is suitable for computing performance metrics indicating one or more parameters relating to flow control per terminal, per network element of the wireless local area network, per network element of the cellular radio access network, per radio access bearer or per radio access bearer group, such as available buffer size, achieved data rate per terminal, aggregated data rate, aggregated congestion window, aggregated number of gaps in a sequence of user-plane data packets, and packet loss rate. 
 
     
     
       19. The apparatus according to  claim 15 , wherein
 the cellular radio access network comprises a radio access network of a LTE, a LTE-A, or an UMTS system, and/or 
 the wireless local area network comprises a wireless local area network according to an IEEE 802.11 standard, and/or 
 the reliable transport protocol comprises SCTP or TCP, and/or 
 the cellular data convergence protocol comprises PDCP.